Public schools about to take a backseat

By Patricia Kilday Hart/patti.hart@chron.com

Updated 11:51 pm, Saturday, June 4, 2011

AUSTIN — The late Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, that master of manipulation, could shame a political panderer into silence with a dark glance or a curt comment. Once, when a bloviating senator began lecturing a private caucus about how his voters expected him to cut the state's budget, Bullock interrupted:

“How many of you were sent here by your voters to destroy public education?” he barked. “Raise your hand.”

Nobody did.

Say what you will about Bullock, that serial husband, recovering alcoholic, flawed scoundrel of a politician. He stood and fought when it mattered.

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Bullock disdained empty political gestures, so I wonder how he would assess the filibuster by Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, that forced the Legislature into special session. Davis' actions carry many risks, but give her credit for alerting exhausted, distracted lawmakers that they were voting on a school finance bill that fundamentally altered the state's compact with its schools.

As Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, pointed out, the massive overhaul of school funding had not received a single committee hearing.

In our current system, the Legislature sets out school funding formulas in statute, usually after lawmakers see computer runs demonstrating how a particular scheme affects their schools. Putting those formulas in statute means the state is legally obligated to fully compensate school districts for variables like enrollment growth or lost tax revenue due to declining property values.

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But the plan panned by Davis and Hochberg — and again under consideration in the special session — will free lawmakers to decide each budget cycle to choose how much money schools get. Public education will be toppled from its special status in the state budget to just another program that will compete for scarce dollars.

The GOP leadership has downplayed the impact of this change, arguing that lawmakers have always made public schools a priority. But the very reason this school finance bill is necessary is to free the state from owing about $4 billion under current formulas.

To some, including Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, this is sound policy. Last week, he called the school finance proposal “a true cut in an entitlement.''

Note the use of that dirty word — entitlement — as if public education is some kind of welfare, not the underpinning of democracy envisioned by Thomas Jefferson.

This school finance bill is a tipping point for the Texas public education system. If the state's obligation to local schools is no longer carved in statute, public education funding becomes vulnerable to last-minute budget balancing by 10 lawmakers on a conference committee. If they decide to trim a couple of billion from education, the other 171 members of the Legislature have little voice.

Former Gov. Bill Clements, who died last week, got elected on a promise of tax cuts. During his second term, Clements swallowed his considerable pride and signed a $5.8 billion tax bill to pay for education.

When the obituary writers sought to capture Clements' risk-taking, ornery nature, nearly everyone mentioned the tax bill. It was the decision that sealed Clements' legacy as a selfless leader who put principle ahead of political expediency. If the Legislature continues on its current path, I doubt our current leaders will be remembered so fondly.